In the manufacture of various types of goods utilizing flat sheet material, there is a frequent need to cut the material into sections or cut a pattern in the material. It is typically desirable to perform such cutting operations while the material is moving past a cutting mechanism at relatively high speeds. In the disposable diaper business, there has been an increase in recent years in the popularity of diapers which are shaped to fit around the legs of the wearer. This shaping is usually accomplished during the diaper manufacturing process by cutting spaced apart sections out of the side areas of the web or webs from which the diapers are fabricated. Each space in the web from which a section has been cut constitutes the shaped leg area in a finished disposable diaper.
A wide variety of cutting mechanisms have been used to accomplish the cutting of sheet materials, depending on the particular type of material and the pattern or path to be cut. Somewhat more recent types of commonly used cutting device utilizes a high velocity stream or jet of a fluid such as water. U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,885 to Miyakita et al., issued Sept. 30, 1977, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,652 to Shinomiya et al, issued Feb. 15, 1977, are examples of such cutting devices.
Another type of cutting apparatus of which we are aware and which is presently used by the Kimberly-Clark Corporation, the assignee of the instant application, utilizes a commercially available cam oscillating mechanism. The cam mechanism is mounted above a passing web of material. A cutting arm connected on one end to the cam mechanism extends over the web in the direction of movement of the web. The arm is moved in an oscillating manner over the web. A nozzle emitting a fluid jet cuts the web along a cutting path determined by the speed of movement and position of the cutting arm and the speed of the passing web. The positioning of the cam mechanism and the cutting arm over the web and the extension of the cutting arm in the direction of movement of the web result in an improved cutting device in comparison with previously known devices.
We have now developed an improvement to the above described cutting apparatus used by the Kimberly-Clark Corporation. We believe our improvement provides significant advantages with respect to increased speed in performing cutting operations and decreased stress on the cutting apparatus.